The growing water pollution problem has led to common dissatisfaction with the use of tap water for drinking, and preparation of beverages and foods.
The taste, smell and color of tap water is often sufficiently offensive to make ingestion of the water unpleasant, even when present in and combined with foods and beverages. In certain instances, toxic materials in water may be present in levels sufficient to be injurious to health.
One solution to the problem is the use of bottled water and purifying devices to obtain water of acceptable quality.
Some of the concerns involved in the quest for pure water are those of cost and lack of convenience. For example, a gallon of bottle of water is often more expensive then a gallon of gasoline and bottled water is inconvenient and possibly even dangerous to carry.
Certain water purification devices have the disadvantage of requiring the transfer of purified water from one vessel to another in order to place some of the water in heating units, pots or like for preparing hot beverages such as coffee.
In order to meet the need for pure water and safe and tasty beverages many homes utilize both water purifying devices and hot beverage makers such as coffee makers. These two appliances take up much needed counter space and their functional capabilities tend to overlap to a significant degree.